SOUTH CAROLINA 183 



was at the time sold at 3 shill. sterl. the bushel, but the 

 husked at 12-14 shill. sterl. 



Rice, indigo, and in the back parts, tobacco, have so 

 far chiefly engaged the attention of the inhabitants of 

 Carolina ; but from the nature of the climate and the 

 situation of the country, it is to be expected that, popu- 

 lation and industry advancing, very many other val- 

 uable products may be raised here at a great profit. 

 The olive-tree, the carob-tree, the mastich, the almond, 

 safTron, liquorice, honey, silk, fine wool, and the like, 

 might, by indefatigable effort, be had of an especial 

 goodness and yielding a great profit. 



In a country which of itself brings forth such a 

 quantity of wild vines as is the case almost through- 

 out North America, it might be naturally expected that 

 vine-culture would be carried on easily and profitably : 

 and yet this is not so, at least was not so. From the 

 first much wine has been drank in America, and much 

 money has gone out for it to foreign states. Whether 

 wine in general is a necessary article is not the ques- 

 tion here. Enough, that people in America find pleas- 

 ure in it, and greatly desire to partake of it. The 

 produce of North America would not be sufficient to 

 pay for its wine, if it became a universal drink. But 

 then there are many fruitful orchards which yield an 

 abundance of good apple and pear-wine ; barley and 

 hops are raised, to brew beer ; they distil whiskey, and 

 get rum cheap from the sugar-islands, or prepare it 

 from molasses fetched thence. 



The sorts of wine, which were formerly best known 

 and liked in America, came from Spain and Portugal, 

 on account of the trade-relations of those countries 

 with England ; that is to say, red, and less often white, 



